Some electrically operated devices, such as data storage devices, are housed in protective enclosures. Some enclosures, also referred to as housings, may be sealed for various reasons, such as to keep out contaminants. Another reason an enclosure may be sealed is to maintain an alternate atmosphere. Some alternate atmospheres may be used to obtain certain performance advantages for some electrical, mechanical, or electro-mechanical devices.
Data storage devices that may be housed in sealed enclosures include disk drives that store data on magnetic or optical disks. For example, a hard disk drive (HDD) may store data on a magnetic disk. An HDD typically includes a base into which various components of the disk drive may be installed. A top cover cooperates with the base to form an enclosure that houses electronic and electro-mechanical components of the disk drive. These components include, for example, a spindle motor, which rotates one or more disks at high speed. Information may be written to and read from tracks on the disks through the use of an actuator assembly. The actuator assembly may include actuator arms, which extend towards the disks, with one or more suspensions or flexures extending from each of the actuator arms. Mounted at the distal end of each of the flexures is a read/write head, which may include an air bearing slider that enables the head to fly in close proximity to the corresponding surface of the associated disk.
The actuator assembly may receive power, control, and data signals through a flexible interconnect called a flex assembly (and may also referred to as a printed circuit cable or flex circuit or wiring harness). A proximal end of the flex assembly may be secured to the actuator arm near the pivot point of the actuator. The head conductors may be soldered, for example, to exposed contacts on the flex assembly. The flex assembly may also route conductors that carry currents to a voice coil motor assembly (VCMA) that may be used to position the actuator arm. Typically, the flex assembly is coupled to a preamplifier drive circuit (preamp) that may generate write currents during a write operation and pre-amplify read back signals during a read operation.
In a sealed HDD, such power, control and data signals may be coupled through a bulkhead connector extending through an aperture in the base. Internally, the bulkhead connector may be electrically coupled to a distal end of the flex assembly. Externally, the bulkhead connector may be electrically coupled to an externally-mounted printed circuit board assembly (PCBA).